Raven
He got his first major exposure as a wrestler in 1992 in World Championship Wrestling. He competed in the light-heavyweight division under the name Scotty Flamingo, playing a surfer from Florida and even bringing a surfboard to the ring with him. He was originally managed by J.T. Southern, and he won the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship (also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship) on June 20, 1992 by defeating Brian Pillman at Beach Blast. After the match, many other wrestlers lined up in the back to praise the quality of the match. On July 5, 1992, Brad Armstrong defeated Levy to win the Light Heavyweight title. He would align himself with Diamond Dallas Page and Vinnie Vegas in the Diamond Exchange stable. He had feuds with Pillman, Armstrong, and Johnny B. Badd. He won a boxing match over Badd at Clash of the Champions XXI on November 18, 1992 via knockout after DDP and Vegas filled his glove with water. He left WCW in July 1993 after disagreements with then-booker Bill Watts. After leaving WCW, Levy joined the World Wrestling Federation as manager Johnny Polo, a spoiled, rich preppy kid, and was placed with Adam Bomb. He was also manager of The Quebecers tag team, whom he led to three reigns as WWF Tag Team Champions. He occasionally wrestled, worked as a color commentator and cohost of Radio WWF, and, behind the scenes, worked as the associate producer for Monday Night Raw. During this time, Polo briefly starred alongside Roddy Piper, Jim Ross, Richard Kimble, and Wolfman Jack in the short lived "Jim Ross Show". Levy left in 1994. On June 30, 1997, Raven made his return to WCW as he was seen sitting in the front row at WCW Monday Nitro, and the commentators acknowledged him as a former champion from a "major independent" organization; Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was never mentioned by name. On August 21, 1997 at Clash of the Champions XXXV, Raven brutally defeated Stevie Richards in an "unsanctioned" match and then took a seat in the front row. The storyline continued that Raven would frequently appear in the front row for the next few months with his lackeys, slowly forming what would be known as the Flock. Raven was an "unsigned free agent", but eventually accepted a contract with WCW Commissioner James J. Dillon which stipulated that he could wrestle only when he wanted and under his own rules. The Flock was a stable of misfits in the same vein as the Raven's Nest group in ECW. With The Flock, however, Raven was more openly abusive and controlling, which eventually led to dissension and rebellion. The group's matches were held under Raven's Rules, which meant no disqualifications—weapon usage, double teaming, and outside interference were rampant. On November 23, 1997 at World War 3, Raven met Scotty Riggs in a match in which Raven dropped Riggs into a chair, "damaging" Riggs' eye. Riggs later joined The Flock. With The Flock's help, Raven won the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship as well as the WCW World Tag Team Championship with Perry Saturn. The former reign lasted only a day as Raven defeated Diamond Dallas Page at Spring Stampede 1998 and lost the belt the following night to Bill Goldberg on Monday Nitro. He blamed The Flock and Saturn in particular for his loss. This led to a series of matches, culminating in a match at Fall Brawl that if Raven lost, The Flock would be able to disband. Saturn won with the help of Kidman, who also wanted to leave Raven's abuses. Without The Flock, Raven began a series of depressing interviews and walked out on several matches. In October at Halloween Havoc, Raven refused to wrestle Chris Jericho for the WCW Television Championship, but eventually was convinced to return to the ring. He lost the match and was not seen until 1999. On his return, a series of vignettes were shown in which a camera crew followed Raven to his supposed childhood home, where he had led a privileged upper class lifestyle. This hearkened back to Levy's pre-Raven personas. He was reunited with his former valet Chastity, who WCW claimed was his sister, and moved into other storylines, creating feuds with Chris Kanyon, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Hak (The Sandman). He later joined with Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse in a short-lived stable called The Dead Pool. In a backstage meeting in August 1999, which involved every contracted WCW wrestler, Eric Bischoff offered anyone their release right then and there. Levy was the only one to stand up and walk out, as he was dissatisfied with WCW's creative direction. Levy left the company. On June 23, 2000, Levy met with WWF officials to discuss a return to the World Wrestling Federation. Raven made his return at Unforgiven when he interfered in the Strap match between Tazz and Jerry Lawler, by DDT-ing Lawler. He then started teaming with Tazz before they went their separate ways. On December 20, 2000 in Chattanooga, he defeated Steve Blackman for the WWE Hardcore Championship, his first of a record 27 title reigns, though most of Raven's title reigns were short-lived. The Hardcore title at the time was contested under the "24/7" defense rule, leading to segments where one wrestler would win the title only to immediately lose it to another wrestler. The first half of 2001 saw Raven achieve several memorable moments. At the Royal Rumble, he prevented Kane from chokeslamming comedian Drew Carey. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he competed in his only WrestleMania match, losing the Hardcore Championship to Kane in a Triple Threat match that also included The Big Show. At Backlash, he lost to Hardcore Champion Rhyno in a hardcore match. A brief angle had an anonymous Black Ninja, who was later revealed to be his old valet from his Pacific Northwest days, Tori, aiding Raven in retaining the Hardcore Championship.1The second half was not as successful as Raven found himself in small roles for the next few months. When the Invasion storyline began, he found himself in the new WCW/ECW Alliance, but had forgettable feuds against William Regal and Perry Saturn. He was best remembered for being managed by diva Terri Runnels and destroying the love interest of Saturn, his mop called "Moppy." He also started teaming with regularly Justin Credible in late July, 2001. Like many other former ECW wrestlers, Raven lost his ECW look and switched to a different style of dress. This eventually led to him wearing a kilt and changing his hair style completely. By the end of the year, Raven was not seen on WWE programs, as the Alliance lost the "Winner Take All" match at Survivor Series.In March 2002, when the WWE Brand Extension was announced, Raven was drafted to Raw with the 28th pick. On the final SmackDown! before the split began, he defeated Maven to once again win the Hardcore Championship, thus bringing the title to Raw. He lost the title that Monday to Bubba Ray Dudley. At that time, Levy decided to spend some time announcing, and Raven became the new color commentator for Sunday Night Heat and Excess. This lasted a couple of months, as he later quit the show to resume his wrestling career on Raw. This did not last long either, as was banished from Raw after losing a match to Tommy Dreamer on June 24, 2002. Raven was forced to spend the rest of the year on Heat, the show that he chose to leave only a few weeks earlier. Levy was then given creative control to develop a storyline related to the seven deadly sins, à la the film Se7en, with Raven becoming a sort of "puppet master" using Heat as his playground. It started to play out; however, it was determined by management that it was not over enough, and the angle was aborted. Although Raven did win his way back onto the Raw roster, he only had one match (losing to Jeff Hardy in a Royal Rumble qualifier) before being released from the WWE the following week on January 20, 2003.